Foyle in Northern Ireland and Wandwsorth in London are also in the running to be among the first to declare

The Leave vote is expected to come out on top in Sunderland, but Wandsworth is expected to see Remain come out stronger.

Council areas will declare individually, before passing results on to regional counting centres, then nationally. Every vote counts in the overall total - it's not like a General Election where your vote only counts in your constituency.

Friday June 24

12.30am onwards - results trickle in, including some from the North East:

Sunderland: 12.30am

Newcastle: 1am​

Hartlepool: 2am

South Tyneside: 2am

North Tyneside: 2am

Hartlepool is expected to be a big vote for Leave, but Newcastle is expected to show a big lead for Remain.

Castle Point in Essex – one of the most Eurosceptic areas in the country - is also expected to declare

Caerphilly in Wales is also expected about this time. It is expected to be evenly split, so may be a good indicator of how things are going.

3am - Durham and Gateshead are is expected to declare, and we should be about 40% of the way through the declarations.

3.30am - Scottish cities are expected to begin declaring, including Edinburgh - tipped to be the highest for Remain.

Scotland and London are two key areas for the Remain camp. A 50/50 result in those overall will be very bad news for Remain campaigners - and pretty much game-over.

Redcar and Cleveland in Teesside are expected to delcare around now

4am - A hefty dose of declarations are expected, with 88 areas are expected to report at around this time or withing the hour, including Stockton and Middlesbrough.

Projections as the possible final result may start coming out.

5am - Northumberland should have declared, and we should be about 90% through the results. It will be mainly rural areas remaining.

6am - A final result will be painfully close. Merseyside, a strong Labour area, is expected to declare.

7am - The final results come in. If no result is close by now, it will be clear the UK is very much split, and some parts of the UK will have voted to leave, and others to remain - posing a big problem for politicians.